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Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau

Asking for a recount of an election could get a whole lot more expensive under a bill passed by the state House of Representatives on Thursday.

Currently, a candidate requesting a recount must pay $10 per precinct to get a recount under way. Under the bill passed Thursday on a 95-9 vote, that amount would increase to $25 per precinct.

And for candidates who lost by more than 50 votes, it would cost them $125 per precinct if they asked for a recount.

The bill was drafted long before the election mess in Detroit, where the votes have been counted several times by city, county and state officials. After the state finally certified the election last month, losing mayoral candidate Tom Barrow, who finished fifth in the race, more than 40,000 votes behind winner Mike Duggan, asked for a recount. That recount is still going on.

Under current law, it will cost Barrow $6,140 to recount Detroit’s 614 precincts. In a close race, that amount would increase to $15,350, and in Barrow’s case, because he finished in fifth place more than 40,000 votes behind front-runner Duggan, the price tag would go up to $76,750.

State Rep. Kurt Heise, R-Plymouth, who sponsored the bill, said the rate hadn’t been changed since the 1960s and was due for a bump.

“What happened in Detroit does underscore the need for this kind of legislation,” Heise said. “It’s a waste of taxpayer dollars and an abuse of the system for people who clearly lost an election to come back later and expect the taxpayers to do a frivolous recount.”

The candidate could get their money back, but it would be a long shot.

“They have to find the money, deposit the money and run the risk of losing the money unless they win the election,” Heise said.